NUR-SULTAN, January 8. /TASS/. President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has dismissed Deputy Secretary of the Security Council Azamat Abdymomunov, according to a decree posted on the website of the president on Saturday.

"The decree by the head of state dismisses Deputy Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Kazakhstan Azamat K. Abdymomunov," the document said.

Abdymomunov was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Security Council in June 2015.

Earlier, Tokayev replaced Nursultan Nazarbayev on the post of Chairman of the Security Council amid unrest in the country.

Protests erupted in several Kazakh cities on January 2, escalating into mass riots with government buildings getting ransacked in several cities a few days later. The ensuing violence left scores of people injured, with fatalities also being reported. Subsequently, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev turned to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) requesting assistance from the Russia-led bloc. As a result, peacekeepers have already been deployed to Kazakhstan. Law and order, Kazakh authorities affirm, was restored to all of the country’s regions by the morning of January 7. However, the situation remains tense in Almaty.